George Randall - Emigration Officer Extraordinaire: A Biography

Abstract

Those who met George Randall would never forget him. He was regarded as a friend and inspiration by many of those people whom he had encouraged to emigrate, who had been given a dream of a life where they would have the opportunity of becoming their own masters. This slight rather grizzled figure was probably responsible for the recruitment of more agricultural emigrants, particularly agricultural labourers, than any other person in Queensland, and quite possibly Australia, by the end of the nineteenth century. He exuded both confidence and determination which enabled him to contribute to the reshaping of Queensland immigration policy.Born in Hertford in 1843 in the very early years of Queen Victoria’s reign, he lived to see the expansion of the railway system in Queensland, the disappearance of Cobb & Co., the development of sea-going ships far larger, speedier and more comfortable than the wooden sailing vessel in which he left England for the first time in 1868, the beginning of QANTAS and, of course, the early development of the Holden car.*Randall was a man of humble beginnings, working in domestic service before he emigrated. When he died in 1930 he was a man of substance, owning properties in South Brisbane and living in a beautifully finished and spacious house in its own grounds in Birkdale. He was, apart from some early schooling, largely self-educated, with a compelling craving for literature, and poetry in particular.It was between 1881 and 1902 that he made his reputation as Queensland emigration lecturer. Through the newspaper reports of his work and his own voluminous reports it is possible to gain an understanding of Queensland immigration policy and also the nature of the agricultural depression in England. Some authorities indicate that as far as the latter was concerned he was more knowledgeable than many of the British assistant commissioners who were inquiring into the agricultural conditions in England. His life, particularly as an emigration lecturer, and his knowledge of Queensland agriculture from north to south of the then colony allowed an entry into two worlds - the English hierarchical rural life which was beginning to dissolve, and the struggle of the last and possibly emptiest of the British colonies in Australia to populate itself.Randall’s involvement in emigration and immigration also gives some understanding of the reasons why governments permit or refuse entry into their countries, why some people are actively recruited and others are rebuffed, or made aware that they would be wasting their time making an application.His life poses a variety of questions. Why did George Randall become so dedicated to emigration? How did a little-known person in Queensland persuade the colonial government to appoint him in the first place? To what extent was he a romantic, who sometimes gave in his lectures too rosy a picture of Queensland? How successful was he as an emigration lecturer? When he was not reappointed after 1902, what did this vital, energetic man do in his long retirement from public duty? How did his wife tolerate such long absences from Brisbane during his recruiting tours?The book attempts to answer these questions.